Shaped pieces with stamped ribs and reinforced junction points



L.PERAS SHAPED PIECES WITH STAMPED RIBS AND REINFORCED JUNCTION POINTS Filed March 16, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jaw 29 2 P fiw y 4, 1967 1.. PERAS 3,328,935

SHAPED PIECES WITH STAMPED RIBS AND REINFORCED JUNCTION POINTS Filed March 16, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent 3,328,935 SHAPED PIECES WITH STAMPED RIBS AND REINFORCED JUNCTION POINTS Lucien Pras, Billancourt, France, assignor to Regie Nationale des Usines Renault, Billancourt, France Filed Mar. 16, 1964, Ser. No. 352,287 Claims priority, application France, Mar. 22, 1963, 929,001, Patent 1,361,372 3 Claims. (Cl. 52-630) The invention relates to the junction points of projecting parts such as cross members, side members, center pillars, side-sills, frame members and ribs among others, which meet at any angle and are obtained by stamping from sheets, plates or strips of metal, and more particularly the junction points of such projecting parts, the depth of which normally requires coupling arms or fillets suflicient to permit the stamping operation.

For the purposes of simplification, the term ribs will be generally employed during the course of the description which follows; it is understood however that it will also designate all similar forms such as cross-members, side-members, center pillars, side-sills and frame members or parts of this latter group capable of being produced by stamping or punching from a metal sheet or plate.

It is often necessary or preferable, for example in the construction of chassis, hulls or bodies of automobile vehicles among others, to obtain sharp angles at the junction points in question. This is the case of door frames, for example.

Up to the present time this result was obtained by stamping certain of these ribs only in the steel sheet, the others, that is to say those which encounter the first, being added on subsequently. This solution has the disadvantage of requiring a large additional quantity of material by reason of the addition of complete separate ribs, and an additional expenditure of labor necessitated by the manufacture, the accurate positioning and the fixation of these added ribs.

The element of sheet-metal work according to the invention, produced by stamping from a plate of metal, and in which at least one first punched rib with sharp angles terminates at a certain angle at one of its extremities in the vicinity of a second stamped rib with sharp angles, projecting from the same side as the first, is characterized by the fact that the said extremity of the first stamped rib has a gradually-reduced section at the zone of its junction with the second stamped rib, and that an overlapping piece is placed on the extremity of the first rib. This piece is constituted by a metal plate which may be in general cut-out and bent, and which extends by sharp angles from the full or unreduced section of the first rib up to its point of meeting at sharp angles with the second rib.

The invention also permits junction points to be effected in which it is possible to separate cleanly and easily the part of the plate of sheet comprising the first rib from that which comprises the second rib, in the event of modification or repair, for example. In this case, the overlapping piece also extends by sharp angles from the portion of unreduced section of the first rib, up to its meeting points with the second rib, but follows a curved transition outline which causes it to pass substantially into the corresponding sharp angles of the second rib. This overlapping piece, which also plays the part of a reinforcement gusset, is fixed on the extremity of the first rib and on the second rib by any suitable means such as welding, sticking and riveting.

The element of sheet-metal work according to the invention does not have the drawbacks which have been referred to and which are inherent with the points of junction of stamped ribs with sharp angles, the stamping depth of which is such that the passage of the first rib into the second normally necessitates fillets comprising clearly visible coupling arms which are much larger than those of the sharp angles. These are currently obtained in boiler work or sheet-metal work by means of machines, such as bending machines and bending presses, for folding metals in sheets or plates within the limits imposed by the elastic limit, the breaking stress and the thickness of the metal, or generally speaking, by the possibilities of elongation of the metal without breaking and without becoming excessively thin.

The invention will be clearly understood by means of the accompanying drawings which represent, among others, examples of its application to automobile sheet metal work. It is, however, understood that the application of the invention is in no way limited to this particular field but extends generally, not only to all metallic constructions stiffened or reinforced by stamped ribs with sharp angles and produced by means of sheets or plates of ferrous or non-ferrous metals, but also to constructions produced by means of sheets of stamped thermoplastic materials, formed under vacuum or under pressure.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIGS. 1 and 2 are perspective views of junction points of ribs according to the invention, stamped from a metal plate of which only one portion is shown;

FIGS. 3, 5 and 7 are perspective views of the junction points of ribs shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and covered accord- .ing to the invention with an overlapping piece having sharp angles;

FIG. 3a shows a perspective view of an overlapping piece having sharp angles;

FIG. 4 shows the positions on the body of an automobile vehicle shown diagrammatically, of the junction points illustrated in FIGS. 5, 6 and 7;

FIG. 6 represents a perspective view of a junction point covered by a piece having a curved transition outline.

There is shown in FIG. 1 a portion of a metal plate in which a first stamped rib 1 terminates at a second stamped rib 2. The respective flanks 3, 4 and 6 of these ribs meet the respective bases 7 and 8 and the substantially flat portion 9 of the plate which form sharp angles. The extremity of the rib 1 has a reduced stamping depth so that its base 7 meets the junction line of the flank 6 of the rib 2 with the flat portion 9.

In view of the stamping depth shown, it is quite clear that if, following the usual practice before the invention, it had been desired to retain substantially the same stamping depth of the rib 1 up to its junction with the rib 2, the meeting point, for example, of the flanks 3 and 6 of the ribs with each other and/ or with the flat portion 9, could not have been carried with sharp angles but would have taken the form of a more or less spheroidal, cylindrical or conical curve, substantially overlapping on the flat portion 9 and on the flanks 3, 4 and 6.

It is not essential that the base 7 of the rib should re-join the junction line of the flank 6 of the rib 2 with the flat portion 9; it may also, and still in accordance with the invention, terminate in the flank 6 a little above the said junction line, or again in the flat portion 9 in the proximity of this junction line. This latter form of embodiment in which the stamping depth becomes nil in the proximity of the second rib 2, has been shown in FIG. 2.

It is also possible to cover the extremity of the rib 1 with an overlapping piece 10, such as that which has been shown in FIG. 3a by placing it in position on the extremity of the rib 1. This overlapping piece, which may be very simple to produce by cutting out and bending, extends by sharp angles from the full or unreduced section of the rib 1 up to its meeting point with the flank 6 of the second rib 2, and especially supplies extensions of the flanks 3 and 4 terminating in the flank 6 without a fillet While retaining all the desired depth. In order to permit the solid fixation of this overlapping piece of U-section on the ribs, it is provided with bent-back edges 11, by means of which it may be welded, stuck or riveted flat on the flank 6 of the rib 2 and on the flat portion 9. It can also be welded by its faces in contact with the flanks 3 and 4 and the base 7 of the rib 1.

According to a further alternative form (not shown) the metal plate may be cut so as to eliminate the extremity of the rib 1 up to the flank 6 of the rib 2. This solution may be adopted in the case of a stamped member common to several structures. However, the alternative form already described and shown in FIG. 2 is sometimes preferable, since it enables an edge to be retained on the flat portion 9 along the flank 6 of the rib 2.

Some other forms of construction which are of advantage in the construction of automobile bodies will now be described. The diagrammatic outline of such a body has been shown in FIG. 4, in which the upper junctions 12 for doors with frames having sharp angles have been produced in a manner similar to that shown in FIG. 5. The lower junction 13 has been formed in accordance with FIG. 6 and the flooring cross-members 14 are in accordance with FIG. 7.

The socket point of the socket shown in FIG. 5, which is produced substantially in the same manner as that of FIG. 3, has not only the advantage of permitting easy manufacture of an alternative form of body by simple eliminating the center pillar 15 if the rib 1 of the center pillar 15 has been stamped as shown in FIG. 2, and this without modification of the stamping tools, but also in the case of repairs or alternative forms, that of facilitating the displacement or replacement of the center pillar, which can be cut-off along the line shown in broken lines 16.

The place of the lower junction of the pillar 15 shown in FIG. 6 has a rib 1 similar to those of FIG. 1 or FIG. 2, and is only different from that of FIGS. 3 and 5 by the shape of the overlapping piece 20. The latter is given a flared shape towards the bottom so that its sharp angles 21 extend the sharp angles 22 of the rib 1 up to their meeting points with the rib 23, following a curved transition outline which causes them to pass in a gradual manner approximately into the corresponding shaft angles 24 of the rib 23.

It will however be noted that the single external form of this junction point could be obtained by conventional of a transverse flooring member 26 with a portion of the rib 1 and its overlapping by the piece are only advantageous in obtaining a foot 15 which is easily detachable.

Finally, a form of embodiment which is substantially identical to that which is shown in FIG. 3 has been represented in FIG. 7. This junction point 14 (FIG. 4) is that of a transverse flooring member 26 with a portion of the lower side-member 25 formed in a single-piece floor of an automobile vehicle. In this case, it may be considered that a rib or cross-member 26 does not join another rib but only a surface folded-back substantially at right angles to the flat portion 9.

I claim:

1. A metal plate assembly for use with junctions of cross members, center pillar members, frame members and frame side members of car bodies, said assembly comprising a metal sheet having at least two members stamped with sharp angles in the same side of the sheet, the first of said members terminating at one of its extremities in the vicinity of the second of said members, the extremity of the first member directed towards the second member being given a gradual reduction of the stamping depth which becomes nil in the vicinity of the second member, the edge of said second member facing the extremity of the first member having no break in its continuity facing the said extremity; and a bent plate member having sharp angles and a cross section substantially identical to that of the unreduced portion of the first member, said bent plate extending the depth of said first member substantially unchanged into said second member.

2. A metal plate assembly according to claim 19, wherein the bent plate follows a curved transition outline which causes the sharp angles of the first member to pass substantially into the corresponding sharp angles of the second member.

3. A metal plate assembly according to claim 19, wherein the bent plate is rigidly fixed on the extremity of the first member and on the second member.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,108,139 8/1914 Comee 52-630 1,395,671 11/1921 Erickson et al 52-630 1,627,216 5/1927 Wasberg et al 52-630 X 1,649,582 11/1927 Gilpin 52-630 X 1,686,274 10/1928 Greenstreet 52-630 1,881,827 10/1932 McWilliams et al. 52-630 3,118,523 1/1964 Girot 52-582 X FOREIGN PATENTS 30,224 7/ 1933 Netherlands.

FRANK L. ABBOTT, Primary Examiner.

R. S. VERMUT, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A METAL PLATE ASSEMBLY FOR USE WITH JUNCTIONS OF CROSS MEMBERS, CENTER PILLAR MEMBERS, FRAME MEMBERS AND FRAME SIDE MEMBERS OF CAR BODIES, SAID ASSEMBLY COMPRISING A METAL SHEET HAVING AT LEAST TWO MEMBERS STAMPED WITH SHARP ANGLES IN THE SAME SIDE OF THE SHEET, THE FIRST OF SAID MEMBERS TERMINATING AT ONE OF ITS EXTREMITIES IN THE VICINITY OF THE SECOND OF SAID MEMBERS, THE EXTREMITY OF THE FIRST MEMBER DIRECTED TOWARDS THE SECOND MEMBER BEING GIVEN A GRADUAL REDUCTION OF THE STAMPING DEPTH WHICH BECOMES NIL IN THE VICINITY OF THE SECOND MEMBER, THE EDGE OF SAID SECOND MEMBER FACING THE EXTREMITY OF THE FIRST MEMBER HAVING NO BREAK IN ITS CONTINUITY FACING THE SAID EXTREMITY; AND A BENT PLATE MEMBER HAVING SHARP ANGLES AND A CROSS SECTION SUBSTANTIALLY IDENTICAL TO THAT OF THE UNREDUCED PORTION OF THE FIRST MEMBER, SAID BENT PLATE EXTENDING THE DEPTH OF SAID FIRST MEMBER SUBSTANTIALLY UNCHANGED INTO SAID SECOND MEMBER. 